


seen it all in paper dreams

by hippopotamus



Category: SKAM (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, M/M, Soulmates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-15
Updated: 2017-11-15
Packaged: 2019-02-02 23:07:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,261
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12736164
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hippopotamus/pseuds/hippopotamus
Summary: For Isak, at first, the colours are just little shimmers. And he couldn’t be more thankful of that. It means things don’t have to be real yet. As long as he doesn’t speak to the boy across the room, he won’t have to face this.[soulmate au where your world turns colourful when you hear your soulmate's voice]





	seen it all in paper dreams

**Author's Note:**

> i've had this in my drafts for ages and i just decided to finish it and post it because why not
> 
> the title is from seeing blind by niall horan and idk why at all so
> 
> hope u enjoy :D

The first time the colour flickers for him, he’s in the cafeteria, and he shuts his eyes tight.

He didn’t want it to happen this soon. Or maybe he did, somewhere in the back of his head, but in the rational part of his brain, there’s _no way_. He’s terrified of what this means for him, and still he hasn’t even seen his soulmate yet.

But he’s heard him, and there’s no mistaking that the voice - or rather, the laugh, the beautiful laugh - is male.

The laugh comes again, and Isak can’t stop himself from opening his eyes to look.

After that, he can barely look away.

*

The world starts black and white until you hear them. Your soulmate, that is.

Isak’s always known that his would be a boy - and he’s not wanted to face it for a long time - didn’t think he’d have to. Most people are well into their 20s before they meet them, sometimes even older.

First, you hear them talk - or laugh, in Isak’s case. If they speak to you directly, looking in your eyes as they do, that’s it. The world floods with colour, spiking out from their lips and spreading to the rest of the world in waves, and it stays.

If you hear them across the room, it’s as if the world shimmers a little, gives you a taste of colours, strongest around your soulmate, but it fades as they stop talking. Or if they talk to you without meeting your eyes, it’s like pulses of colour come with their words - colours come in full force but as long as they aren’t meeting your eyes they fade as quickly as they come.

For Isak, at first, the colours are just little shimmers. And he couldn’t be more thankful of that. It means things don’t have to be real yet. As long as he doesn’t speak to the boy across the room, he won’t have to face this.

*

He sees him again at kosegruppa. Sana’s blackmailed him in with the weed he left at the party, and ten minutes after he arrives, so does his soulmate. He’s closer this time, barely 5 meters away as he talks to Vilde, Sana, and Eva at the door.

The colours flicker in and out as he says first “hey,” then “cool, I’m excited.” and moves to sit behind Isak, his presence feeling like a fire set to Isak’s back. He can feel him there so vividly, even without colours from his voice, and he almost can’t breathe.

 _Just get through the evening without speaking_. Then this boy won’t be any the wiser and Isak doesn’t have to face it until he’s ready. He goes back to looking at the messages on his phone, suddenly thankful that his friends didn’t come with him today, because there’s no way they’ll ever find out about this. Ever. He’ll stay silent, and it’ll be as if nothing happened.

The next person to arrive throws something of a spanner in the works of his plan.

“Hi!” Emma chirps excitedly when she comes to stand in front of him.

He gets away with it at first - the not speaking that is. He can just smile half heartedly and let her chatter along non stop about kosegruppa. At the end, though, she says “kosegruppa… yay!” and then looks at him expectantly. His only option is to laugh a little and respond with an unenthusiastic “yay” of his own.

He didn’t realise that the boy behind him was tapping his foot, but he notices it when he stops abruptly.

Vilde’s voice has never sounded sweeter to his ears - actually, it’s never even sounded _sweet_ to his ears, but it does now. She calls the room to attention, and Isak stares intently forward, not listening to her words in the slightest, but at least trying not to think about the boy behind him.

He runs at the earliest opportunity. Not away, because he has to return at the end to get Mahdi’s weed back from Sana, but at least out of the room.

The school is deserted at this time of night, thankfully, so no one can see him, brain whirling at five times the speed of light, wandering around stupid school corridors to avoid his soulmate.

He winds up in the bathroom, playing some game on his phone to pass the time, until he hears someone else come in. He’s pretty sure that means it’ll be near the end of the meeting, now, or at least the end of the group activities Vilde was forcing them all into when he left, so he leaves the stall.

Which turns out to be the stupidest decision he’s ever made, because it’s not just anyone in the bathroom. It’s his soulmate.

Does he know, yet? Isak can’t tell. All in all he seems pretty unaffected by Isak’s presence, just continues to wash his hands, while Isak stands there almost unable to move. At least until he realises how he must look to this boy, and moves to the sinks to wash his own hands.

His whole body is fizzing and whirring and buzzing with the energy he can feel from the boy next to him, and he’s terrified, and thrilled, and excited all at once.

They don’t speak until the boy turns to dry his hands, pulls towel after towel from the dispenser, and doesn’t stop until it’s empty.

 _Confusion_ is added into the mess of feelings in his head now.

It all comes to a standstill when the boy turns, meets his eyes, and flicks his eyebrows up as if in surprise, as if he didn’t know Isak was right there.

“Oh, did you also need tissues?” he asks, and fishes a dry-ish one out of the bin to give to Isak, before lifting a hand to his ear where there’s a joint tucked, and smirking a “come outside.”

Isak stands, dumbfounded, trying not to give away that his entire world is flooded with colour now. And it’s _beautiful._

He’s not sure if giving your soulmate colour gives you some sort of power over them, because he follows him, heart racing, hands shaking, mind taking in all the colours he couldn’t see before, but making sure he’s a few steps behind so that his soulmate won’t see him with wonder in his eyes, and maybe he won’t work anything out.

He follows to the bench outside, where his soulmate is lighting up, and sits beside him, keeping a careful distance between them despite the fact that recognising your soulmate has nothing to do with touch.

He doesn’t speak, but accepts the joint offered to him, and takes a drag.

“Do you know the group leader?” His voice still seems to make the colours brighter when he speaks. As if the trees in front of him dance and the lights are given more energy to shine with.

“Vilde?” Isak huffs a laugh without thinking - and then remembers too late.

He looks over to his soulmate to find him staring at him in wonder.

“It _is_ you,” he breathes. “I thought - but I wasn’t sure - but it _is_ you.”

Isak hates himself for what he does next, but he can’t help it.

He runs.

*

 **Vilde** : Hi Isak! Where did you go last night? I hope you’re still in kosegruppa, we need you! And Sana said to tell you “you’re not getting it back” and you’ll know what that means?

Anyway we’ve paired you up with Even. The guy who disappeared with you. He doesn’t have facebook so you’ll need to find him and let him know please!

 **Isak** : sorry vilde i’m not staying in kosegruppa

i don’t know even so you’ll have to tell him yourself

*

His full name is Even Bech Næsheim, he transferred from Bakka, and he’s really difficult to avoid.

At least to avoid seeing him is almost impossible. Thankfully Even seems to realise that approaching him won’t do anything - maybe it’s because on Monday, when he saw Isak across the courtyard, Isak turned and walked in the opposite direction.

Since then he’s just received pleading looks whenever he sees Even, but there’s been no attempts to talk - until Friday. Isak gets on the tram, and there he is, standing unbearably close because Isak didn’t think to look up at who he was standing next to before a tentative voice reaches his ears.

“Hey,” Even says, and Isak snaps his gaze up to look at him, wondering if he should get off the tram and wait for the next one, but as soon as he thinks that, the doors shut, and he’s trapped.

He looks down at his feet. “Hey” he mumbles.

“Can we -“ Even starts, and Isak won’t look at him, too scared to meet his eyes again although - unless Isak speaks - it will do nothing more, but he can hear the hesitance in Even’s voice. “Can we talk? Like, at my place or somewhere?”

Isak doesn’t want to say no. He doesn’t know if that’s some part of the soulmate bond they never tell you about, feeling compelled to do everything your soulmate asks of you, although it’s not as if it feels against his will or anything. He _wants_ to go with Even. He’s just - scared.

He follows Even to his apartment, again walking behind him, but not too far, clenching and unclenching his fists with every step he takes, and wishing he had control over his breathing.

Soulmates don’t always end up together. From the moment kids learn about soulmates, it’s always drilled in that there’s a choice involved.

Of course, that part is mostly to encourage same-gender soulmates not to get together.

Isak’s scared of a lot of things. Spiders and heights, and weird creepy dolls that people find in places they shouldn’t be. He’s scared of people looking at him different because his soulmate is a boy, expecting him to act a certain way and dress a certain way because he likes _boys_. At least, that was what he was scared of before he met Even.

And then he ran off, and now the fear that Even won’t want him anymore is much greater.  He’s scared of losing the boy he’s meant to be with, because he’s always believed in the system, secretly. Always wanted to find his soulmate.

Just not so _soon._

His mind’s going fast and Even hasn’t even said a word to him yet, past asking if they can talk, though he keeps glancing back at Isak, expression unreadable. It stays that way until they wind up on the windowsill of Even’s bedroom, passing a joint between them.

“Didn’t get to finish it last time,” Even says with a nervous half laugh, and Isak looks down, cheeks flushing slightly, and doesn’t reply.

More silence passes before Even tries again. “I didn’t think I’d find you so soon,” he says.

Isak hears what Even wants to say. _I’m not ready for a soulmate. I don’t want a soulmate who’s a boy. I don’t want to settle down for the rest of my life yet._

And here’s Isak wanting everything that Even could give him, like some sort of idiot.

“I just want to know,” Even swallows. “I want to know what we do now. I mean, if you don’t want me then it’s - it’s okay, I can’t make you want me. But could you at least let me have colour?”

Even will leave if Isak gives him colour.

He can’t do it. How does he tell Even that he’s all Isak wants? The only way to keep him around now is by not looking him in the eyes as he speaks. That way at least he’ll stay until Isak looks him in the eyes.

“Please, Isak,” Even says, more urgently now. “I just need-“

“I can’t,” Isak whispers, looking down at the floor. “I just - I can’t, Even.”

“Why not?” Isak can hear the frustration, and feels it in himself, too, in the shape of tears spilling out over his eyelids, ones that he wipes away quickly.

“I just -“ Isak tries. “I don’t want you to leave me,” he chokes out, shoulders sagging after he says it, feeling as though he’s suddenly empty.

Even doesn’t reply. Isak doesn’t try to look up at him, knows it will just make it harder if he does.

“I’m sorry,” Isak whispers, moving to leave, but a hand on his arm stops him, a burning touch that narrows the whole world down to that one point where their skin meets.

“Isak,” Even says. “I won’t.” He tugs on Isak’s arm, pulling him closer. “I won’t leave you.”

The next thing Isak knows is pure warmth and light, as Even’s arms wrap around him entirely, holding him tight, close. It takes Isak a few seconds, but he brings his arms up to hug Even back, burying his face in Even’s shoulder and breathing him in.

“We can work it out, okay?” Even tells him, pulling out all his doubts and replacing them with calm. “Your speed. If it takes you a year to look me in the eyes, or tell anyone about us, then that’s how it is. As long as I’ve got you.”

Even wants him. He really does. Isak knows it, now. He understands, because the feeling washes through him with the warmth of Even’s arms wrapped around him, and he understands.

“You’ve got me,” he confirms, then pulls back, suddenly braver, and lets his eyes meet Even’s. “You’ve got me,” he repeats, watching Even’s growing smile. “And I’ve got you.”

**Author's Note:**

> like idek  
> hope u liked it tho  
> find me on tumblr [@evenshands](http://evenshands.tumblr.com)  
> love always xxx


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